Owed money by small business!

littlemissmoney

Hi

I'm owed some money by a small(ish) business for some work I did for them (< £1,000). I've been chasing it for over a year and I've had enough and I now think I'm going to take them to court for it.

Does anyone have any advice?
What are the chances of me actually getting the money out of them at the end of this?
How long is it likely to take?
How much work is it for me?
Is there any way I can check if they already have any CCJs against them?

I've just looked on the Companies House website and they are not on there. What does that mean?

Thanks in advance

slipp_digby

grdcredit wrote: »

I've just looked on the Companies House website and they are not on there. What does that mean?

They are now a limited company!

presume that a typo 'NOT a limited company'

it could be a partnership, sole trader or a trading name. if it was a ltd company and was dissolved it would still show on webcheck

the longer you leave debts the less likely you will get paid 12 months is asking for trouble, although in theory if you use the appropriate statutory legislation you will be able to claim interest on the debt for 12 months plus debt recovery.

i would suggest that you follow up debts in a structured manner

on due date - written reminder outlining terms
30 days late final demand
60 days - letter infroming of court action
then small claiims.

YEOVILGOM

slipp_digby wrote: »

presume that a typo 'NOT a limited company'

Don't know what you mean

littlemissmoney

Thanks everyone. I know exactly who I'm dealing with and I know they have money (I thought they were my friend ). Moneyclaim here I come

I have copies of everything and kept of log of all the dates I sent reminder invoices etc. Any advice on completing the moneyclaim form?

Is there any way they can stall things? I'm sure they'll try and get out of it any way they can. I can't see how they can any defense at all, but maybe I'm being naive.

littlemissmoney

slipp_digby wrote: »

the longer you leave debts the less likely you will get paid 12 months is asking for trouble

Why is 12 months asking for trouble? I've sent reminder invoices every month and a letter before action last month.

slipp_digby wrote: »

although in theory if you use the appropriate statutory legislation you will be able to claim interest on the debt for 12 months plus debt recovery.

Hmm, interest sounds good How do I have to work it out? - Edit: Ignore that - I've now found it on the website.

YEOVILGOM

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I know exactly who I'm dealing with and I know they have money (I thought they were my friend ). Moneyclaim here I come

So limited company or sole trader/partnership?

littlemissmoney wrote: »

I have copies of everything and kept of log of all the dates I sent reminder invoices etc. Any advice on completing the moneyclaim form?

Start at the beginning

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Is there any way they can stall things? I'm sure they'll try and get out of it any way they can. I can't see how they can any defense at all, but maybe I'm being naive.

They may try and defend the action but if you have details of all communication they will struggle to explain why they did not raise a dispute earlier

YEOVILGOM

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Why is 12 months asking for trouble? I've sent reminder invoices every month and a letter before action last month.

Maybe saying it was asking fro trouble was a bit OTT but it is certainly unprofessional to wait nearly a year before sending a letter before action!

YEOVILGOM

slipp_digby wrote: »

i would suggest that you follow up debts in a structured manner

Agree totally - chase in a structured manner

slipp_digby wrote: »

on due date - written reminder outlining terms
30 days late final demand
60 days - letter infroming of court action
then small claiims.

Could not disagree more. Nothing frustrates me more when speaking with new clients or offering advice when they trot out their patent letter writing system.

Throw the pen and word processor away and get on the phone.

First call should be 5/7 days before due - have they got invoice, is it cleared, is it coming out for due date

Next call when it is overdue - polite chaser

Next call 7/10 days later - getting nasty now

Next call 7 days - transferring to debt collectors in 7 days

Keep a record of phone calls.

With respect your letters mean the customer has had 60 days extra credit before you take serious action (still better than 12 months though!)


Get on the phone and have with debt collectors by end of month if no payment ot satisfactory contact.

Geoff

Horace

Another thing to remember - there are no such thing as friends in business..friends can take you for a ride as these have obviously done.

As Geoff says - ring them, letters can be binned or filed away.

If you want to stay in business then you need to be tougher in futurer. Do your terms say that any goods sold to them remain as your possesions until they have been paid for - if you have sold them goods see if you can get them back. Don't sell them anything else whilst they have an outstanding bill - this is known as putting their account on stop (no goods until all debts have been paid).

littlemissmoney

I didn't sell them goods, it was for labour. Is it still ok to use moneyclaim online?

I'm not a business as such, I just did some work for them as a self employed person. I won't be doing it again!

On a related note, does anyone know how I should treat this unpaid money on my self-assessment tax form? I won't need to complete one next year so really I'd like to include it this year. But I don't want to pay tax on money I don't have!

slipp_digby

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Why is 12 months asking for trouble?

we got someone delaying payment to us for about 4 weeks.

then we got a nice letter from the nice man at KPMG to 'all creditors' telling us he was the administrator working on behalf of our client and we were in a long list of people owed money. which we will never see.

'asking for trouble' in that you should have instigated the recovery action at an earlier point.